Champions League Preview: Aston Villa vs Bologna – Team News, Line-ups & Prediction | OneFootball

Villa Park sets the stage for a first-ever UEFA Champions League encounter between high-flying Aston Villa and out-of-sorts Bologna. Wednesday’s clash in West Midlands pits the two competition debutants against each other, albeit they take the field in conflicting spirits.

Aston Villa fought back from a goal down to beat Fulham 3-1 in a chaotic Premier League fixture on Saturday to maintain a feel-good factor in the build-up to this match. Unai Emery’s side entered October’s international break frustrated after squandering numerous chances in a scoreless home draw against Manchester United.

Shortly before that gut-wrenching result, the Birmingham outfit pulled off a spectacular home win against Bayern Munich in this competition. Jhon Duran scored off the bench to hand Aston Villa a 1-0 triumph on this ground, helping them build on a thumping 3-0 away win against Swiss champions Young Boys on matchday one.

In contrast to their hosts’ outstanding Champions League start, Bologna’s maiden campaign at Europe’s top table has gone all wrong. After an underwhelming 0-0 home draw against Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk in round one, Vincenzo Italiano’s underachieving team slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Liverpool.

Hopes of lifting the spirits ahead of another trip to England vanished in thin air last weekend as Genoa hauled back a two-goal deficit to hold Bologna to a 2-2 stalemate at Stadio Luigi Ferraris. Despite sporting director Marco Di Vaio recently reiterating the club’s confidence in Italiano, the former Fiorentina manager can already start feeling the heat.

Match Preview

Aston Villa

Back-to-back victories ‘to nil’ to kick off their first Champions League campaign since 1982/83 have brought Aston Villa on the brink of club history. They could equal their longest winning streak in Europe’s most prestigious competition with a win against Bologna.

There’s no reason for Emery’s men to expect anything less, considering their sublime form in 2024/25. Except for a 2-0 home defeat to Premier League title hopefuls Arsenal in late August, the Lions have gone unbeaten in all ten remaining games this season (W8, D2).

Emery’s robust defensive structure has seen Aston Villa keep three successive clean sheets ahead of this fixture, suggesting a piece of history is up for grabs. Another shutout would make the English powerhouse the first Champions League debutants since Leicester in 2016/17 to not concede in their opening three games.

However, there’s a downside. Notoriously slow out of the blocks, the Villans have opened the scoring in just one of their last seven home games in all competitions.

Bologna

Visiting Bologna must use Aston Villa’s sluggish openings to their advantage unless they want to join Austria Vienna’s 2013/15 team on the list of teams to have failed to score in three consecutive Champions League outings. Breaking the deadlock may be a game-defining moment.

That’s because the visitors have lost both previous visits to English shores. However, Bologna can take confidence from finding the back of the net in six of their eight Serie A games this season, including three successive away matches either side of losing to Liverpool.

It’s a pity only one of those three scoring appearances yielded three points (D2). Defensive frailties have been Bologna’s scourge on the road this term, with the Rossoblu conceding at least two goals on four of their five competitive travels (W1, D2, L2).

Lapses of concentration in the later stages have seen them concede on or beyond the 75th minute in four of those five away contests.

Team News

Second-string goalkeeper Robin Olsen is the only absentee in the Aston Villa camp. Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara are available again after lengthy spells on the sidelines, while captain John McGinn returned from a minor hamstring injury to make a cameo appearance at Craven Cottage last weekend.

On the other hand, Bologna boss Italiano cannot call upon the services of Lewis Ferguson, Oussama El Azzouzi, Nicolo Cambiaghi, and Martin Erlic. Moreover, there are still question marks hanging over the heads of Michel Aebischer, Samuel Iling-Junior, and Dan Ndoye, making for dismal reading.

Aston Villa vs Bologna Potential Starting XI

Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Emiliano Martinez; Ezri Konsa, Diego Carlos, Pau Torres, Lucas Digne; Amadou Onana, Youri Tielemans; John McGinn, Morgan Rogers, Jacob Ramsey; Ollie Watkins.

Bologna (4-2-3-1): Lukasz Skorupski; Stefan Posch, Sam Beukema, Jhon Lucumi, Juan Miranda; Remo Freuler, Nikola Moro; Riccardo Orsolini, Giovanni Fabbian, Jesper Karlsson; Santiago Castro.

Aston Villa vs Bologna Prediction

As much as Italiano’s Bologna deserved better results than the ones they’ve got recently, it’s hard to envisage anything other than another disappointment for the Renato Dall’Ara side. Aston Villa are in way better shape and have an intimidating home atmosphere behind them.